Ho Shin Lee, 31, of Los Angeles, California, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Charlotte for laundering more than $1.9 million stolen from Appalachian State University, announced R. Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

The 14-count indictment was unsealed Friday, following Lee’s arrest in California.

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Court documents indicate that in 2016, Appalachian State University awarded a contract to Rodgers Builders to build a new health sciences building at the university. In December 2016, an employee at Appalachian State received an email from an unidentified individual purporting to be D.M., an employee of Rodgers Builders. The e-mail was sent from a "rodgersbuildersinc.com" domain. The legitimate e-mail address for Rodgers Builders was “rodgersbuilders.com.” The fraudulent e-mail contained a direct deposit form and instructions to change Rodgers Builders’ previously submitted banking information to Lee’s newly opened bank account.

The indictment alleges that the Appalachian State employee changed the payment information as directed by the fraudulent e-mail, and on or about December 8, 2016, a payment of approximately $1,959,925.02 intended for Rodgers Builders by Appalachian State was directed to the bank account controlled by Lee.

According to the indictment, Lee received the fraud proceeds later that month, and quickly transferred the funds through a series of financial transactions out of his bank account, knowing that the transactions were designed to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the fraud proceeds.

Lee is charged with fourteen counts of money laundering. The maximum penalty for the each charge is twenty years in prison and a $ 500,000 fine.

The charges contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelli Ferry is in charge of the prosecution.